What happened? This past week, Ford announced that 38,000 workers have accepted buyout offers, for an overall workforce reduction of 46%. The plan should save the company some much-needed cash, but the question remains: How much more does Ford need?

What does this mean for your portfolio? This move gives the company much more agility to enable a vast restructuring. If the company can properly adapt to future trends in the auto industry, Ford will bounce right back on track. And according to figures from the December 2006 issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Spectrum magazine, Ford Motor is leading the world in R&D in terms of dollars spent.

Investors can hope that this effort will produce something better than the Ford Fiesta in years to come.

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